JENNBLECH: new york new york

We just got home from our trip Saturday afternoon and I have to say, it was the most amazing vacation I have ever been on in my life! :) We had so many great adventures, ate so much amazing food, explored so many places, made new friends, and took a million pictures. I am going to divide up the trip into different sections. Lets just say this will be New York week! Prepare for a lot of writing, and pictures each day! We might not have a million, but there are literally over a thousand to go through.

thursday (6/30)
We were all packed and ready to go, so right after work me and Pat grabbed our things and headed out to meet Megan, who was dropping us off at the airport. Pat was really insistent on getting to PDX super early just in case I guess... he was driving me crazy, but as it turns out there was a reason behind it. Since our flight was delayed a bit we posted up in Stanfords by our gate for some dinner and pre boarding drinks. I had a ginger martini that was delicious and even came with a stick of rock candy. We finally made it to the plane and took off. I tried to lean on Pat and get some rest, but neither of us got much sleep on the red eye. I am not sure it is even possible.

[[ pdx by night. aerial view of nyc in the morning. ]]

friday (7/1) :: day 1
Awake but exhausted we finally saw the city out the window! The plane landed, we grabbed our bags, a cab, and were at the hotel before we knew it. It was weird how many HUGE cemeteries there were on the way in to the city, it really made me want to watch the movie "Gangs of New York" again. Unfortunately our hotel room was not ready and we were completely exhausted, so we went up to the lounge and passed out on some couches. I am sure we looked completely insane. Eventually we got in the room and passed out. We did not wake up again until around 3pm, but it was much needed sleep.

For our first adventure into the city we met my older sister Leah in the Meatpacking district (after a brief Subway mishap) at The High Line, which is a park up above the city, it is really awesome. We grabbed some seafood from this really sweet market right by the park for lunch (Chelsea Market I believe). I got shrimp ceviche and it was delicious! I snapped a ton of pictures while we were walking around. Afterwards we met up with Leah's boyfriend Adil and his friend Ali for some beers. I guess Adil really wants to buy a car, so earlier that day he rented a convertible Camaro, and we were able to go for a personal tour around Manhattan. I think this was one of the best parts of the trip, it was an awesome way to see the city. After an hour or two of that we went to dinner at a tiny French restaurant. I wish I could remember the name, but there were just too many places we visited. We got some bottles of wine, and I had the best sea scallops I have ever eaten in my life! Finally we finished the night off with some drinks at a little hidden bar down some random alley, there is no way I could possibly recall the name or even location of this one. Me and Pat got Absinthe, because well, we were in NYC, why not!